CEM REPORT, FINANCE | With the dynamism of the world today marketing financial services have proved to be increasingly puzzling as technology has taken centre stage and customers’ financial need varies.
Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, Group MD, CMC Connect, has recommended solutions to marketing financial services in today’s world.
He stated that the era of mass marketing is obsolete noting that financial institutions need to personalise their products.
He disclosed this while speaking at the 2nd National Stakeholders Conference of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), themed “Marketing Financial Services in Dynamic Times” held in Lagos.
“This is not the era of mass marketing, it’s gone.”
The marketing veteran stated that the first realisation of financial institutions to market and eventually sell financial services is to “know your customer, know your market.”
“The first thing you need to do is know your customer, know your market.”
He elaborated that to sell financial services in this day and age, financial institutions must “look at the market while still focusing on the individual customer.”
He noted that while products and services are designed for the general market, financial institutions must seek to know their customers and design products and service for specific individuals and professional sets.
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Okunsanya, who is also the President, African Public Relations Association (APRA), recommended that financial institutions need to engage more in “research and development.”
Expandingly, he noted that customers now are more aware hence the strategy of communicating with them cannot be the same as before.
“This is not only in the banking industry, across many industries we are not investing enough in research, we’re not investing enough in development.”
“The wants of the consumer continue to change, what you sold to the consumer yesterday may not be exactly how you want it today.”
He stated that many financial institutions do not float an active and well funded research department.
Furthermore, the think tank recommended that financial institution need to get creative in their campaigns to enable them create differentiation in their products and services which he noted can be challenging.
“Creating differentiation in a highly plottered market through branding and communication is a challenge because the traditional responsibility of any bank is to keep money and disperse money.”
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He recommended that in defeating the challenge of differentiation, financial institution campaign “must be focused on a specific goal; as acquiring new customers, increasing production, product adaptation or reactivating inactive accounts” noting that institutions “must ensure the regular use of data from your marketing campaigns to inform your strategy.”
Okunsanya stressed that trust is the most important ingredient in successfully marketing financial product and service.
